which they
have somehow lost; some vision, some hope, some faint and radiant
ideal. Why do they lose it, why do they settle down on the lees of
life, why do they snuggle down among comfortable opinions? Mostly, I
am sure, out of a kind of indolence. There are a good many people who
say to themselves, "After all, what really matters is a solid defined
position in the world; I must make that for myself, and meanwhile I
must not indulge myself in any fancies; it will be time to do that
when I have earned my pension and settled my children in life." And
then when the time arrives, the frail and unsubstantial things are all
dead and cannot be recovered; for happiness cannot be achieved along
these cautious and heavy lines.

And so I say that we must deliberately aim at something different
from the first. We must not block up the further views and wider
prospects; we must keep the horizon open. What I here suggest has
nothing whatever that is unpractical about it; it is only a deeper
foresight, a more prudent wisdom. We must say to ourselves that
whatever happens, the soul shall not be atrophied; and we should be as
anxious about it, if we find that it is losing its zest and freedom,
as we should be if we found that the body were losing its appetite!

It is no metaphor then, but sober earnest, when I say that when we
take our place in the working world, we ought to lay the foundations
of that other larger stronghold of the soul, _Joyous Gard_. All that
matters is that we should choose a fair site for it in free air and
beside still waters; and that we should plan it for ourselves, set out
gardens and plantations, with as large a scheme as we can make for it,
expecting the grace and greenery that shall be, and the increase which
God gives. It may be that we shall have to build it slowly, and we may
have to change the design many times; but it will be all built out of
our own mind and hope, as the nautilus evolves its shell.

I am not speaking of a scheme of self-improvement, of culture followed
that it may react on our profession or bring us in touch with useful
people, of mental discipline, of correct information. The _Gard_ is
not to be a factory or an hotel; it must be frankly built _for our
delight_. It is delight that we must follow, everything that brims the
channel of life, stimulates, freshens, enlivens, tantalises, attracts.
It must at all costs be beautiful. It must embrace that part of
religion that glows for us,